2024 Tioga Arts Council and Cops 4 A Cause Art Pack Campaign

The Tioga Arts Council (TAC) and sponsor Cops 4 A Cause (C4C) distributed 25 free Art Packs to educators representing seven schools and one nonprofit agency in and around Tioga County, New York on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

TAC works with many educators in the community. Each year, these dedicated professionals see students who have tremendous artistic talent but cannot access supplies to express their ideas. Teachers will provide materials, often out of their own pockets, to support these students and their artistic visions. In recognition of this, TAC developed its free Art Pack Program.

For the past four years, TAC supporters have made this free Art Pack campaign possible. However, thanks to a friendship between the owners of Cloud Croft Studios and Scott Pauly, TAC found a new partner to help make this program financially possible: Cops 4 A Cause.

TAC and C4C distributed 25 free packs to the following educators from eight schools and charitable organizations: Alex Taylor, Broome-Tioga BOCES; Erica Lilly, Catholic Charities Tompkins/Tioga; Andrew N. Fitzsimmons, Chenango Valley High School; Burton Taylor, Newark Valley High School; Jolene Williams, Owego Free Academy; Joellen Riggs, Tioga Central High School; Cindy Henry, Union-Endicott High School; and Melissa Restuccia, Vestal High School.

“Giving back to the communities where we live and work,” Cops 4 A Cause (C4C) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity located in New York State, comprised of a group of active and retired law enforcement members, and supported by community members. The organization was founded in 2018 as an avenue to raise funds to give back to the communities where they live and work.

TAC and Cops 4 A Cause met a year ago to discuss partnership opportunities, and after several visits and learning about each respective organization, Cops 4 A Cause agreed to sponsor TAC’s free Art Pack program.

With the help of Newark Valley High School art teacher Burton Taylor, TAC curated 25 uniform packs with the following contents to encourage experimentation and creativity in local student artists. The contents were: Bristol Pad; Travel Sketch Book; Windsor Newton Galleria Acrylic Paint Set; Charcoal Pencil; and a Kneaded Eraser.

TAC included this message from poet, Christian Teresi.

“That your vision and the way you interpret the world matters is an idea that bears repeating. Its obviousness is too often taken for granted. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in a letter to the painter Paul Cezanne that ‘Surely all art is the result of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, to where no one can go any further.’ I think that is true in the sense that art arrives from the risks we take as we interpret the world and then the gift of sharing that vision with others. It is an act of kindness. In deep admiration of the things you will create, we leave you with a poem about vision and perspective.”

I see a butterfly go by

– Fernando Pessoa (May 7, 1914), translated by Richard Zenith

by Christian Teresi

I see a butterfly go by

And for the first time in the universe I notice

That butterflies do not have color or movement,

Even as flowers do not have scent or color.

Color is what has color in the butterfly’s wings,

Movement is what moves in the butterfly’s movement,

Scent is what has scent in the flower’s scent.

The butterfly is just a butterfly

And the flower is just a flower.

Thank you to the following who made the 2024 Art Pack campaign a success:

Cops 4 A Cause sponsored 25 Art Packs for local students; local educators for all they do to inspire, encourage, and support their students; TAC’s Board of Directors, whose leadership and values help advance the mission of TAC; Christian Teresi for offering his words and poem for Art Pack recipients; TAC intern Micah Whitmore for wrapping all the Art Packs; and the supporters, friends, and families who helped pilot and make the program possible.

Contact Christina Di Stefano at tiogaartscouncil@gmail.com if you have additional questions.